Mountain Climbing

a cryptic puzzle by Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon

Solution
Puzzle grid

A journey up the mountain is provided by Across answers a-u, which begin in square 1 and proceed rightward, then leftward in the second row from the bottom, then right-ward again in the third row up, and so on, winding back and forth to the topmost square. Across words are given in the proper sequence. However, any climber of this mountain will encounter some obstacles; the farther you go up, the more numerous they will be. These obstacles take the form of single letters intruding here and there in the sequence of Across answers (they may interrupt a single Across word or fall between two Across words). There are 20 such letters, and they occur as natural parts of the vertical answers (which n this puzzle go up>, climbing the mountain). The 20 letters, when read from top to bottom column by column, starting with the leftmost column, will identify the mountain's ultimate obstacle.

Answers to clues include six proper words and a variable spelling at 6 Up.

Across

  • a.
    Rough journey announced (COARSE)
  • b.
    Most cryptic mountains flanked by streets (STRANGEST)
  • c.
    Count mountaineer out (ENUMERATION)
  • d.
    Works a rope clumsily (OPERA)
  • e.
    A sun-hat styled for people in a rugged state (UTAHANS)
  • f.
    Backward mountain zone: a wide-open area (PLAZA)
  • g.
    Band of 50 buried in fallen ridge (GIRDLE)
  • h.
    Gold is a subject to change in conversations (DIALOGS)
  • i.
    Wagon bearing a stone's weight (CARAT)
  • j.
    High ridge is mostly earth-colored (BROW)
  • k.
    Go uphill endlessly with tool to gain peak (CLIMAX)
  • I.
    Eric maneuvered around tip of lofty ruin (RELIC)
  • m.
    Asia mountains concealing old country (SIAM)
  • n.
    Slate ripped palm (STEAL)
  • o.
    School heads for precipitous Andes (DEANS)
  • p.
    Saw is free of frost? (NOTICED)
  • q.
    Spotted a broken piton (PINTO)
  • r.
    No steep cliff turned back French bov (GARCON)
  • s.
    Everything in stratum is rounded (BALLED)
  • t.
    Last of ominous mountains' tops appear huge (LOOM)
  • u.
    Summit reveals primate unknown (APEX)

Down

  • 1.
    Copper deposit's last piece (CUT)
  • 2.
    Cussword to a giddy height (OATH)
  • 3.
    Hear a rattling around mountain (ARARAT)
  • 4.
    Flier came crashing into arch (SPACEMAN)
  • 5.
    One's scrambling for a long time (EONS)
  • 6.
    Explorer's helmet—best one (TOPI)
  • 7.
    Bend in elevated arch (ELBOW)
  • 8.
    Brook stems from river, not well (RILL)
  • 9.
    German party staggered in a circling zigzag (NAZI)
  • 10.
    Precariously treading slope (GRADIENT)
  • 11.
    Flower with a slim, peculiar cross (SMILAX)
  • 12.
    Curve in narrow channel going back north (TURN)
  • 13.
    Goal in ascending (END)
  • 14.
    Diagram endlessly rocky ridge (GRID)
  • 15.
    Savage was holding large tools (AWLS)
  • 16.
    Explorer in white garb swallowed by snake (BALBOA)
  • 17.
    Scale hill finally, with falling spirit (LAMINA)
  • 18.
    Organized group chopped cedar (CADRE)
  • 19.
    One mostly dark, icy place to stay (IGLOO)
  • 20.
    Mark is continuing after mountain pass (COLON)
  • 21.
    Make me a mountaintop (DOME)
  • 22.
    Almost slip in winds (LAPS)
  • 23.
    Highest point bears name in Gaelic (MANX)